Sunday, 20 November 2011

BBC: Gold is a bigger threat than drugs in Colombia

BBC Radio 4's "From our own correspondent" on Saturday (19 November) included a report from Alastair Leithhead (final segment, about 24 minutes in) saying that the rising price of gold has led to frontier-style gold rush towns in the country's lowlands.

In it he describes how drug gangs and terrorists are on the edge of defeat but said: "We discover a new threat to the stability and peace the president is so desperate to sell to investors as he travels the world drumming up trade deals and collecting international allies."

He said: "There's a new source of illegal income: gold".

"The high price of gold has turned a traditional industry into a new cocaine where violent criminal gangs take their cut. And it's a real threat to the grand plan of president Santos."